FREEPORT — Stephenson County students participated in an outdoor classroom program, Keepers of the Land, on Sept. 24-25.

Students from Center, Dakota, Immanuel Lutheran, Le-Win, Pearl City, Open Bible, Aquin and Tri-County schools traveled to Oakdale Nature Preserve and Krape Park for the program. The program is designed to remind students of the role they can play in protecting and sustaining the earth and its resources.

Sessions included hikes, nature art, professional demonstrations and hands-on activities. Topics focused on rehabilitated animals, aquatics, forests, seeds, animal adaptations and defenses, and wildlife. Students met a live rehabilitating owl, learned about insects and simulated what it would be like to be an animal defending itself.